Mac community news,

Main menu

Sub menu

7 Sevens v2.0 Featured in Best New Games on the App Store

Baltimore, Maryland – Independent mobile game developer, Grumble Games today is thrilled to announce that Apple chose to feature 7 Sevens on the App Store as a Best New Game and Best New Update as well as a small banner placement. 7 Sevens 2.0, is an update to the popular title developed exclusively for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices running iOS7 or higher. 7 Sevens is a tile-matching puzzle game based around the simple concept of grouping like-numbered tiles together to clear them from the board.

Unlike traditional match puzzlers the number of tiles you need to clear a group isn’t set, but is determined by the number on the tile. Line 2 twos up and they explode from the board, but to clear sevens it takes 7 adjacent seven tiles. Thoughtful planning, using helpers at the right time and a bit of luck allows players to achieve massive high scores. 7 sevens is intended for casual gamers looking for something to fill a few minutes but is complex enough for hard-core puzzle fans.

While simplicity is at the heart of 7 Sevens design, the complexity quickly becomes apparent as players progress into deeper rounds of the game. Every 7 explosions that a player triggers progresses them to the next round. At the start of each round the player is awarded bonus points and 7 random tiles are dropped on the game board. The tiles dropped can help a user, for example, dropping that last seven in the perfect place to trigger a big explosion, or they can be grey blocks which are impediments that need to be cleared. Grey blocks are able to be cleared by triggering explosions next to them, which offers the perfect use for the 1 tile, which explodes on contact.

The last element of gameplay are the helpers. The tile swap has been around since version 1. It is empty until the player taps it to save a tile for later. At any point thereafter the player can swap the current tile for one that has been saved. Two new helpers have been added for users to get even higher scores. First, ‘Next’ a preview of the next tile that the user will be able to drop. This small change has increased strategic decisions dramatically by itself. The other new helper is ‘Lift’, giving users the power to reposition a tile on the top of any column. Users get 7 of them per game, so they must be used sparingly but can really turn the tide of a game and give the opportunity for much higher scores.

7 Sevens is all about getting the highest score possible (and then bragging to your friends about it), and there are three ways to receive bonus points to inflate a score. As mentioned above, every time a player reaches a new round they are awarded bonus points, which is the first way. Second, players can trigger combos by strategically placing numbered tiles and grey blocks to multiply an explosion’s points by 2, 3, 4 or even more. The other benefit to triggering a combo is that it does not eat up a round marker, which is crucial for getting high scores in later rounds.

Also, boost a score by triggering 7 of a particular type of grouping. For instance, the 7th time in a game a player triggers 7 sevens they get the big 49,777 point bonus. Tip: clear the board for a 77,777 point bonus. The most dramatic way to get a high score is by increasing your point multiplier. Every time a user breaks a gray block they earn XP and each time they fill their XP bar their point multiplier increases. Break more gray blocks at once and get significantly more xp. It’s just one more subtle strategy in the game. The best thing about these bonus scenarios is that the users don’t even have to think about them if they’re interested in a casual, less strategic experience. They’ll just be happy to see bonuses popping up on the screen.

7 Sevens v2 remodels the game modes included. There are two levels of difficulty, Normal and Hardcore and three different modes in each. Classic is the game that fans know and love, which has been included since version 1. Classic is an endless experience that ends when the board is filled. Time Attack gives users 7 minutes to get the highest score possible, but there’s an opportunity to add time to the clock by breaking clock blocks. Break more at once and earn much more time. The final mode is Sequence mode, intended for users that want to create the perfect strategy and go after the highest score possible. In Sequence the tile distribution is the same every time.

Although no tutorial is necessary for a player to pick up 7 Sevens and begin playing a set of “How to Play” instructions have been included. There is also a detailed Stats page that tracks everything a player does including their top 10 high scores of all time, with date and time to track how long ago it was that they got that ridiculously high score. At the end of every game players have the option of sharing their high score on Facebook, Twitter, by text or through email.

As a game is being played there is a live score stream at the bottom of the screen which is updated with scores from other players around the world from that day. The scores shown are skewed to friends of the player, but the score could be from anyone that has completed a game that day. This feature is not
available on iPhone4 due to screen size restrictions.

“We are so happy with the incredible opportunity to be featured by Apple. It’s a great honor and we’re very proud of the game.” said Mike Spotten, founder and CEO of Grumble Games. “This version wouldn’t exist without our passionate users,” he went on to say. “Based on their feedback we’ve adjusted the end game to be more fair, added in helpers and enhanced the overall experience. We’re excited about these new details and have plans for even more enhancements in the coming months that I believe users will be blown away by.”

Grumble Games is an independent game development company located in Baltimore Maryland. We believe in making fun and intelligent games. We’re a two man shop that left our jobs a year ago to follow our dream of starting a game company and are passionate about our apps and the indie app development community. All Material and Software (C) 2014 Grumble Games / All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.